Lead battle heats up at 2026 Dakar Rally as end nears

The 2026 Dakar Rally is entering its final phases, but the lead battle in the RallyGP class remains as fierce as ever.

Luciano Benavides has reclaimed the lead on Thursday’s Stage 11, having previously held it in the beginning of the week.

The Argentinian is now 23 seconds ahead of Ricky Brabec heading into Stage 12. Brabec is thought to have slowed intentionally at the end of the stage to have a road order advantage tomorrow. With Benavides fourth-fastest on the stage and Brabec sixth, the American will be two places behind the rally leader in the starting order for the penultimate stage.

15 minutes back remains Toscha Schareina, with now eight minutes back to Daniel Sanders who has continued in the rally despite fracturing his collarbone and sternum in Wednesday’s crash that took him out of the victory conversation in this year's Dakar.

Given his physical condition, Sanders’ 13th place on Stage 11 was very impressive, and he lost only 10’28’’ to the stage winner.

That was HRC’s Skyler Howes, who took his first stage win of the 2026 Dakar on Stage 11. Adrien van Beveren made it a HRC 1-2. Edgar Canet was third-fastest; his charge back from a puncture that cost him several hours earlier in the rally has him up to 34th overall now.

The Ultimate class saw Mattias Ekstrom back on form after mechanical issues on Wednesday. The Swede won the stage by 1’22’’ ahead of former WEC racer Romain Dumas who had his best stage finish of the rally in second.

Carlos Sainz was third-fastest on the stage; both he and Ford Racing teammate Ekstrom closed significantly on rally leader Nasser Al-Attiyah on Stage 12, both now less than 30 minutes off the lead and Ekstrom within 21 minutes of the Dacia driver.

It was certainly a tricky day for the Dacia drivers, with Sebastien Loeb the fastest of them in 10th, while Al-Attiyah was 17th-fastest and over 12 minutes slower than Ekstrom over a special which took less than three hours.

The overall top-three is now Al-Attiyah 8’40’’ ahead of Nani Roma, who was 11th-fastest on Stage 11, and 18’37’’ ahead of Sebastien Loeb. All three should have decent road positions for Friday’s penultimate stage of the rally, which will feature 311km of special.